Methods for creating dynamic lists from selected areas of a power system of a utility company

ABSTRACT

Methods are provided for creating dynamic lists from selected areas of a power system of a utility company. The utility company has an energy management system with a control panel. The energy management system is used to access one or more source displays of a site. Rubber-banding or lassoing is used to create selected areas from at least a portion of the source displays. Lists are created dynamically. Operator defined information is displayed for each element type in a list of network elements from the selected areas that have been rubber-banded or lassoed.

RELATED APPLICATION

This application is a continuation of, and claims priority to each of, U.S. patent application Ser. No. 13/658,489, filed 23 Oct. 2012, and entitled “METHODS FOR CREATING DYNAMIC LISTS FROM SELECTED AREAS OF A POWER SYSTEM OF A UTILITY COMPANY,” now issued as U.S. Pat. No. 9,311,728, which is a continuation of U.S. patent application Ser. No. 12/139,167, filed 13 Jun. 2008, and entitled “METHODS FOR CREATING DYNAMIC LISTS FROM SELECTED AREAS OF A POWER SYSTEM OF A UTILITY COMPANY,” now issued as U.S. Pat. No. 8,321,800, which is a non-provisional application claiming priority to U.S. Provisional Patent Appln. No. 60/952,021, filed 26 Jul. 2007. The respective entireties of each of the foregoing applications are hereby incorporated by reference herein.

TECHNICAL FIELD

This subject application relates generally systems and methods that improve energy management, and more particularly to systems and methods for the utility market.

BACKGROUND

The modern electric power grid begins as the primary circuit leaves the generating sub-station, is transported via transmission line, distributed via distribution feeders, and ends as the secondary service enters the customers meter socket. The subject application relates to the management of the transmission system, from a control center, which purpose is to maintain all equipment within operating limits and to ensure the provision of electricity at a reliability rate greater than 99.999%.

To manage the grid, electric utilities rely on Energy Management Systems (EMS), which are mission critical information system that collect data from the field and can control protection devices from the control center via a Supervisory Control and Data Acquisition system (SCADA).

The EMS are more sophisticated today with advanced algorithms and increasing volume of data coming from smarter grids that are equipped with intelligent electronic devices (IED).

However, intelligent grids and sophisticate power system algorithms that process field data will not suffice to prevent human errors in control centers. Operators continuously train to adapt to new system conditions and react to emergency situations. This general aptitude to master complex information and make correct decisions is referred to as “situation awareness”.

Catastrophic failures of a power system are relatively uncommon, but they are spectacular when they happen. Twenty-five million people in the northeastern United States lost electric power for 12 hours in 1965. Another blackout shut down New York City for several days in 1977. And in 2003, the largest power failure in North American history left 40 million people in an area in the United States stretching from Massachusetts, Connecticut, New York and New Jersey west to Ohio and Michigan, and 10 million people in eastern Canada, without power. The lack of adequate situational awareness at multiple levels was one of the root causes of the Aug. 14, 2003 massive power blackout in North America.

Designing tools for adequate Situation Awareness (SA) includes that the following factors be kept in mind: so-called “enemies of situational awareness”: attention tunneling, requisite memory trap; data overload; misplaced salience; complexity creep, errant mental models, out-of-the-loop syndrome; workload, anxiety, fatigue, and other stress factors.

There is a need for methods that create dynamic lists from selected areas of a power system of a utility company. There is a further need for methods that dynamically create lists and displaying operator defined information for each element type in a list of network elements from selected areas that have been rubber-banded or lassoed.

SUMMARY

The following presents a simplified summary of the disclosed subject matter in order to provide a basic understanding of some aspects of the disclosed subject matter. This summary is not an extensive overview of the subject disclosure. It is intended to neither identify key or critical elements of the subject disclosure nor delineate the scope of the disclosed subject matter. Its sole purpose is to present some concepts of the disclosed subject matter in a simplified form as a prelude to the more detailed description that is presented later.

Accordingly, an object of the present application is to provide methods of creating dynamic lists from selected areas of a power system of a utility company.

Another object of the present application is to provide methods of dynamically creating lists and displaying operator defined information for each element type in a list of network elements from selected areas that have been rubber-banded or lassoed.

A further object of the present application is to provide methods of dynamically creating lists that are saved and recalled for future use, and displaying operator defined information for each element type in a list of network elements.

Yet another object of the present application is to provide methods of creating dynamic lists from selected areas of a power system of a utility company and using the lists of network elements to identify vital signs for the system.

Still another object of the present application is to provide methods of creating dynamic lists from selected areas of a power system of a utility company and identifying network elements within the perimeter of the selected area.

These and other objects of the present application are achieved in, a method of creating dynamic lists from selected areas of a power system of a utility company. The utility company has an energy management system with a control panel. The energy management system is used to access one or more source displays of a site. Rubber-banding or lassoing is used to create selected areas from at least a portion of the source displays. Lists are created dynamically. Operator defined information is displayed for each element type in a list of network elements from the selected areas that have been rubber-banded or lassoed.

To the accomplishment of the foregoing and related ends, the disclosed subject matter, then, comprises the features hereinafter fully described. The following description and the annexed drawings set forth in detail certain illustrative aspects of the disclosed subject matter. However, these aspects are indicative of but a few of the various ways in which the principles of the disclosed subject matter may be employed. Other aspects, advantages and novel features of the disclosed subject matter will become apparent from the following detailed description of the disclosed subject matter when considered in conjunction with the drawings.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 is a block diagram illustrating one embodiment of an energy management system of the present application that provides real time awareness of a potential energy management failure.

FIG. 2 is a block diagram illustrating one embodiment of an energy management system of the present application, which has situational dashboard panels.

FIG. 3 is a flow chart illustrating one application of the FIG. 2 system.

FIG. 4 illustrates one embodiment of a custom dashboard of the present application sourced from three different displays.

FIG. 5 a flow chart illustrating one embodiment of a method of the present application that assesses potentially compromising situations of a utility company.

FIG. 6 illustrates one embodiment of a fly-out and a pod of the present application.

FIG. 7 illustrates one embodiment of a geographical overview with a background layer representing the aerial view of an area of the present application.

FIG. 8 is a flow chart illustrating one embodiment of a method of the present application that creates dynamic lists from selected areas of a power system of a utility company using rubber-banding or lassoing.

FIG. 9 illustrates one embodiment of area selection that can be used with the flow chart of FIG. 8.

FIG. 10 illustrates one embodiment of vital signs for a selected element that can be utilized with the flow chart of FIG. 8.

FIG. 11 is a flow chart illustrating one embodiment of a method of the present application for managing high and low voltage conditions from selected areas of a power system of a utility company.

FIG. 12 illustrates one embodiment of a MVAR Reserve dashboard that is calculated automatically based on the selected area and can be associated with the FIG. 11 flow chart.

FIG. 13 illustrates a 3D view of the available MVARs using the positive and negative reactive reserves toolbar buttons, and can be associated with the FIG. 11 flow chart.

FIG. 14 is a flow chart illustrating one embodiment of a method of the present application for assessing reliability of a power system of a utility company.

FIG. 15 is associated with the FIG. 14 flow chart and illustrates that if a new violation appears following the execution of the State Estimator (SE), an alert is displayed of the viewport.

FIG. 16 is associated with the FIG. 14 flow chart and shows a selected branch.

FIG. 17 is associated with the FIG. 14 flow chart and shows how markers associated with the monitored elements in post contingency violations are displayed.

FIG. 18 is associated with the FIG. 14 flow chart and shows that to drill down into a particular violation, the operator can select a violation marker for an Alarm on branch.

FIG. 19 is associated with the FIG. 14 flow chart and illustrates that when a contingent element creates a violation, a square marker can be provided.

FIG. 20 is associated with the FIG. 14 flow chart and illustrates that selecting a contingent element marker can cause a display all violations that a particular contingent element creates.

FIG. 21 is associated with the FIG. 14 flow chart and shows a Contingency Tab in a control panel.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

The disclosed subject matter is now described with reference to the drawings, wherein like reference numerals are used to refer to like elements throughout. In the following description, for purposes of explanation, numerous specific details are set forth in order to provide a thorough understanding of the disclosed subject matter. It may be evident, however, that the disclosed subject matter may be practiced without these specific details. In other instances, well-known structures and devices are shown in block diagram form in order to facilitate describing the disclosed subject matter.

In various embodiments, the present application provides a system and methods for enhance situational awareness for a control center of a utility company for improved energy management, to drill down on potential conditions that effect the distribution of power, and mitigates these potential conditions before catastrophic failures occur, provide a real time application of advanced graphics to display the current status of a power system of one or more utility companies, and the like. The present application represents a new and improved way to design user interface, independently of the underlying application to display a 3D view of the available MVARs using the positive and negative reactive reserves toolbar buttons, as shown in FIG. 13.

The present application represents a new and improved way to design user interface, independently of the underlying applications, algorithms, or databases. The main display is therefore targeted at a specific operator's task, which may span several applications. Traditionally, a operator had to navigate among different user interfaces to achieve the same objective, albeit with much less productivity and slower reaction time.

The present application is designed for mission critical systems that deal with large volume of data refreshed in real-time every seconds. These information systems cannot fail and must be available at a minimum 99.95% of the time.

The present application is also designed to re-use most of the existing software applications already in place within the control center. Low cost of maintenance is achieved with automatic generation of displays and re-use of existing assets (software and hardware).

The systems and methods of the present application can be used by utility companies that have a system including but not limited to power systems. The present application can also be used by water management systems, petrochemical systems, transportations systems, and the like. The power system is managed to bring energy to an end user and includes generation, transmission and distribution system. With the present application, satellite maps can be utilized.

As illustrated in FIG. 1, one embodiment of the present application has an energy management system that includes: a control center at a utility company; logic resources coupled to the power system that provide a real time notice of conditions which effect energy management of the utility company; and at least one user interface at the control center coupled to the logic resources. The user interfaces provide real time situation awareness of a potential energy management failure. The conditions can be one or more of energy, distribution, generation, transmission and energy market systems.

With the use of situation awareness of the present application, a real time notice of conditions can be provided prior to an occurrence of, a catastrophic failure of power delivery, catastrophic power generation, catastrophic transmission and energy market systems and the like.

Situation awareness is perception and/or comprehension and is auditory and/or visual. Situational awareness, (i) improves energy management, facilitates drilling down on conditions that can effect energy management, (ii) facilitates distribution of power, generation of power, transmission and energy market systems, (iii) mitigates the effects of conditions that can create failures in energy management and (iv) mitigates conditions that can create failures including but not limited to, delivery of power, generation of power, transmission and energy market systems.

The logic resources and the user interface are coupled to the power or distribution system of the utility company. The logic resources uses an overview of the majority of the utility system and drills down to more detailed views of the utility system.

The logic resources can be configured to re-use at least a portion of data and configurations from pre-existing software applications already in place in the control center. As a non-limiting example, the pre-existing software applications can include information of, system 1 lines, 1 line diagrams and/or asset information. The user interfaces provide a specific operator's task that can scan one or several utility company applications without navigating between different user interfaces of the control center.

The user interfaces include graphics that display one or more of, current status, mitigating factors and recommendations of the power system for one or more utility companies. The user interfaces can include advanced graphics that display a current status of power generation, power generation, transmission and/or energy market systems. The user interfaces can be independent of an energy management application. In one embodiment, the user interfaces are automatically generated in response to data and configuration from pre-existing software or pre-existing software applications and also uses its own. The user interfaces can be a model driven overview, where the model driven overview combines coordinate system based on a geographical coordinate system including but not limited to GIS and the like.

One or more context panels can be provided with context data relative to a given situation facing the utility company. One or more information systems can also be provided that are refreshed in real-time. By way of nonlimiting examples, the information system can be refreshed in a time period of from 1 second to 15 minutes, depending on the information and the situation.

In another embodiment of the present application, illustrated in FIGS. 2 and 3, situational dynamic dashboards are created graphically and dynamically by operators. The situational dashboards can be built on-the-fly by combining subsets of, different displays, tabulars, one-lines, regional schematic and/or geographic overviews. The logic resources enable the operators to create their own dashboards from large geographical overviews, regional schematic displays and station one-line displays to assist operators in assessing a potentially compromising situation of the electric power system. Portions of the displays that are dropped onto a situational dashboard display can continue to be updated in real-time with live data.

As a non-limiting example, the potentially compromising situation can be, system violations of type branch, low voltage, high voltage and/or delta voltage, low or high voltage situation in a given area of the system, actual or potential system violations as a result of megawatts or megavars, and the like. The situational dashboards can be built on-the-fly by combining subsets of different displays, tabulars, one-lines, schematic, geographic overviews and the like, onto a dashboard area. The dashboards are saveable and reuseable, and are useful for identifying potentially compromising situations.

FIG. 4 shows an example of a custom dashboard of the present application sourced from three different displays. The operator selects the displays of interest. Snippets from the original displays are selected by rubber banding, the selected area is cut (initiated by the operator “drag” operation) and then pasted, initiated by the operator “drop” operation, into the dashboard.

The portions of the displays that are dropped onto a dashboard display continue to be updated in real-time. The result is a new dashboard display. Once created, a dashboard can be saved and recalled later just as any other display in the system and is refreshed with live data. The benefits of a dynamically created dashboard, which is created to specifically address a situation, is that it allows the operator to select only the information that is relevant to the situation which the operator is facing. This reduces the workload on the operator since the operator needs to focus only on what is relevant not a collection of displays, which have vast amount of information on it, which may not be relevant. The concept is simple: provide the operator with only the information he needs to do the job, not all the data that the system has and letting the operator constantly review the data and extract what is needed. One the dynamic dashboards are created they can be saved and re-used should the situation present itself, thus eliminating setup time.

In one embodiment, a fly-out or data lensing is provided. A fly-out is an effective way to dynamically select an area of a large overview display of the power system, or any display for that matter to direct the operator attention to where or what in the power system needs attention without losing perspective of the whole power system which is being monitored and controlled.

The operator selects an area of the overview, which it wishes to focus on by rubber-banding or lasso the area. The selected area of interest is cut and pasted into a fly-out. The fly-out can be moved and resized by dragging and resizing the fly-out border to enhance the usability of the fly-out.

As illustrated in FIG. 5, projection lines can be drawn from the source display to the fly-out to maintain reference to the source such that the operator always knows about the reference source of the fly-out. The projection lines can be used with multiple fly-outs, and can track multiple situations at the same time. This is important because an operator may be tracking multiple situations at the same time and must be aware of the context of each of the situations from the multiple situations. The projection lines provide the operator with an awareness of a context of situations and information about a reference source of the fly-out.

A pod is a fly-out that has been un-pinned from the source display. Pods can be organized as additional windows to monitor specific information such as overload condition on a power line or a low voltage condition. FIG. 6 shows an example of a fly-out and a pod. Situation awareness principles can be utilized with the fly-out. The use of a fly-out allows an operator to generate informational displays without ever leaving the main overviews in order to accomplish a goal. This reinforces the goal of providing a use case based application. The operator is provided with only what it needs to the job and nothing else that can distract the operator from the task that the operator has been asked to do.

FIG. 7 shows an example of a geographical overview with a background layer representing the aerial view of an area. Other types of operator selected backgrounds, such as jpegs and bitmaps, can be used. In one embodiment, geographic satellites are used to obtain the geographical overview. The operator can then pan and zoom, with different tiles coming up on the display.

Depending on the portion of the overview, which is visible and the zoom level, the corresponding tile for the matching background is obtained from the site. Once it is obtained, it is locally cached for performance improvement and displayed as the background layer. As the operator pans and the zooms the display new tiles are retrieved and displayed. For efficiency only, the required tiles are loaded into memory and visible in the background.

For optimal visibility depending on the display and control room lighting, the operator can adjust the opacity of the background image using a dialog, which is available for invocation from an icon on the toolbar.

FIG. 7 also shows a navigation window and a magnifier in use.

In another embodiment of the present application, illustrated in FIG. 8, a method is provided for creating dynamic lists from selected areas of the power system of the utility company. The energy management system issued to access one or more source displays of a site. One or more of the source displays are then rubber-banded or lassoed to create the selected areas from at least a portion of the source displays. Lists, which can be in tabular form, are created dynamically that display operator defined information for each network element type in a list of network elements from the selected areas that have been rubber-banded or lassoed. By way of illustration, and without limitation, the network elements can include one or more of, substations, lines, generators, capacitors, loads, transformers, Static Var Compensators and Inductors, and the like. These lists are created dynamically for an operator selected area of the power system to quickly obtain vital signs for the system within the selected area.

In this embodiment, the operator selects an area by rubber banding or lassoing an area on the display using a device such as a mouse. All the network elements in the selected area of interest are identified.

The selected area is dragged into a new control panel tab and dropped into the tab. The action of “drag and drop” constitutes the creation of a new list of elements the operator wants to obtain vital information for vital signs. The new list of elements is created by identifying network elements within a perimeter of the selected area. As a non-limiting example, the network elements can be each station and each line within the boundary of the selected area.

The information, which makes up the vital signs, is operator definable. As a non-limiting example, the vital information can be one or more of, the state of the line, energization status of the lines, MegaWatt flows, MegaVar flows of the line, station load, station generation in MegaWatt and MegaVars and the like. The present application takes care of retrieving, from the energy management system, the most recent data associated with this selection, and automatically keeps it up to date. Once the new list is created, it can be saved and recalled for future use.

An area selection is shown in FIG. 9. Vital signs for a selected element are shown in FIG. 10.

In one embodiment, the system of the present application automatically populates the list and receives vital data for all of the elements in this list. The custom list can be given a name and saved for future use.

The control panel can have a special tab, called “Lists,” which contains the names of all the custom-created areas. In one specific embodiment, the control panel has an MVAr Reserve tab that contains names of dynamically created MVar Reserve areas for a selected geographic representation of the power system.

Referring now to FIG. 11, the present application also provides an operator with knowledge about where and how much VAR Reserves are available. This is particularly useful for operators facing high or low voltage situations. In such a situation, the operator needs to know if there are sufficient Vars in the area where the low or high voltage condition manifests itself so that they can be injected into or removed from the power system.

In another embodiment of the present application, a method is provided for managing high or low voltage conditions from selected areas of a power system of a utility company using VAR reserves. Selected geographic are rubber banded or lassoed and potential low or high voltage situations are identified. The control panel can include a context menu. The context menu can be used to show VAR reserves. Once the area selected, the operator selects the option “Show Reserves” from the context menu to display the MVAR Reserves available within the area. For the selected area, all network elements are identified and a query is generated to obtain the MVAR Reserves associated with the identified network elements. Geographic displays are overlaid with superimposed VAR reserves to create overlaid geographic displays that are used to identify potential low or high voltage instances in the selected geographic areas.

In one embodiment, voltage contours are used to identify the potential low or high voltage instances. The overlaid geographic displays can be used to provide power flow information of the power system, which can be in real time as well as to determine available VAR reserves. The geographic displays can be used to determine if there are sufficient VARS in portions or all of the selected geographic areas where low or high voltage conditions are manifest.

The location and amount of available VAR reserves is determined, and real time information relative to location and amount of available VAR reserves can be provided.

The available VAR reserves can be displayed as a summary for injection into the system and for absorption out of the system by device type, e.g., generation units, capacitor banks, reactor banks, and static Var systems). FIG. 12 shows the MVAR Reserve dashboard, which is calculated automatically based on the selected area. A query can be generated to obtain MVAR reserves associated with the identified network elements.

The injection/absorption reactive reserve is calculated based on the following rules:

Generation Units: Considers only units that are not open or removed. The injection reactive reserve is (MVAR MAX−MVAR Out) and the absorption reactive reserve is (MVAR Out−MVAR Min).

Capacitor Banks: Considers only caps that are not removed from the system. The injection reactive reserve is the summation of nominal MVAR of, caps that are open or disconnected. The absorption reactive reserve is the summation of nominal MVAR of caps that are closed.

Reactor Banks: Considers only reactors that are not removed from the system. The injection reactive reserve is the summation of nominal MVAR of caps that are closed. The absorption reactive reserve is the summation of nominal MVAR of caps that are open or disconnected.

Static VAR Systems: Considers only SVS that are not open or removed from the system. The injection reactive reserve is (MVAR MAX−MVAR Out) and the absorption reactive reserve is (MVAR Out−MVAR).

A stacked bar chart provides detailed information about the MVARs availability on a per-station basis and on a per-device-type, associated with the station basis. The height of the bar above the horizontal axis represents the amount of MVARs available to inject into the system from the station. The height of the bar below the horizontal axis represents the amount of MVARs available to absorb (remove) from the system at the station. For each station, the amount of MVARs that can be injected or absorbed is shown below the chart, injected/absorbed.

The chart is sorted from the station with the most available injection to the station with the least available injection. Clicking on the bar will cause the corresponding substation's one-line display to be called into the dashboard area. The operator can therefore rapidly identify which device needs to be operated on, using a familiar SCADA diagram. (Note: No control actions are allowed, the one-lines are read-only displays.)

With the present application, it is also possible to display a 3D view of the available MVARs using the positive and negative reactive reserves toolbar buttons, as shown in FIG. 13.

The selected area can be saved in the reserves tab in the control panel and recalled for future use. Once recalled the display is restored automatically to the state when it was saved and the MVAR Reserves are updated throughout the system using the most recent real-time values.

In another embodiment of the present application, illustrated in FIG. 14, an operator can detect and analyze a base case violation using a Reliability Assessment module. If a new violation appears following the execution of the State Estimator (SE), an alert is displayed of the viewport, as shown in FIG. 15.

If the letters “SE” are visible, the State Estimator has detected one or more new violations. To begin analyzing base case Violations, the operator selects the Base Case Alert button on the Alert Panel. The main Overview display is updated to show violation markers. A voltage contour at the highest KV level for which there are voltage violations is displayed. The Monitored Elements tab is updated with the list of Monitored Elements in the Alarm, Violation, or Warning State. Round Markers are used to represent violations in an overview display. The branch violation marker is presented on the center of the branch. The voltage violation markers and transformer violation markers are presented on the related substation. By way of illustration, and without limitation, examples of markers are shown below:

Red marker, with label “183.2N”, representing a branch alarm for a MW value that exceeds the normal limit by 183.2% (v−limit=limit×1.832);

Red marker, with label “0.9N” on white background, representing a voltage alarm for a voltage value that exceeds the normal limit by 0.9% (v−limit=0.09×limit);

Orange marker, with label (□41.9E) on white background, representing a voltage drop violation for a voltage drop value that exceeds the emergency limit by 41.9% (v−limit=0.419×limit);

Red marker, with no label and white background, representing multiple violations with different violation types and at least one alarm.

The marker symbol is defined as follows:

Marker Color to represent the Violation severity threshold (warning=yellow, violation=orange, alarm=red).

Marker Fill: White background for voltage violation and/or multiple violations that have different violation types.

Label xxxS: The suffix S represents the limit being referenced (“N” for Normal, “E” for Emergency and “L” for Loadshed) and the number represents the violation percentage over this reference limit. If there is a prefix with Δ it is a voltage drop violation.

If a new violation is detected relative to the previous run, a halo is presented around the marker. The operator can now drill-down on a particular violation by selecting a violation marker. Only the selected one will appear on the display and all other violation markers will disappear. The same happens in the Monitored Element tab in the control panel, which will only show the violations associated with the current selected marker.

FIG. 16 shows a selected branch Alarm on the branch DOUGLAS-HANOVER. The control panel on the left is automatically open on the list of monitored elements and positioned on this branch. The control panel monitored element list shows the vital data related to all violations selected in the overview display. For each monitored element, the name and the highest percent over the limit value being violated is displayed on the top line.

By way of illustration, and without limitation, details for each violation can include:

The limit value, displayed as “Lxxx.xx”

The current value, displayed as “Vxxx.xx”

The percentage over the limit it violates.

In case of a branch, there might be two entries, one for each end of the branch.

There can be two icons for each Monitored element in violation: one for locating the element on the overview displays and one for calling the associated line display in a dashboard tab to obtain more information.

In one embodiment of the present application, an operator can detect and analyze a contingency case violation using a Reliability Assessment module. If a new violation appears following the execution of the Contingency Analysis (CA), an alert is displayed on the top right corner as shown in FIG. 15. The operator selects the contingency alert button to begin analyzing Post Contingency Violations. Elements in Alarm, Violation, or Warning States as calculated by CA. The Contingent Tab in the Control Panel is updated with the list of contingencies impacting Monitored Elements in violations.

The material presented on the Overview display is very similar for the base case with the addition of being able to:

display contingency-related information, and

visualize and assess the relationship between monitored elements and contingencies.

Using combinations of the Overview display, the Control Panel, and the Violation toolbar filters, the operator can drill down the Post Contingency Case violations in both a graphical and a list format.

As shown in FIG. 17, markers associated with the monitored elements in post contingency violations are displayed.

The violation markers associated with the monitored elements on the overview display in the post contingency case have the same meaning as the marker in the base case.

To drill down into a particular violation, the operator selects a violation marker, as shown in FIG. 18 below, for the Alarm on branch DOUGLAS-HANOVER.

The control panel shows the element monitored with the following information:

Name of the monitored element;

Type of violation;

Base Case Value (letter “V” in front of the value);

Post Contingency Value (letter “P” in front of the value);

Limit Value associated with the Alarm, Violation, or Warning being presented; and

Percent over the limit (N: Normal, E: Emergency, L: Loadshed).

A contingent element is a power system element that represents a defined contingency in the CA application. When this contingent element creates a violation, a square marker, as shown in FIG. 19, appears on the branch or substation. The same principles as for violation markers apply:

As shown, color can be used to represent a violation's severity (worst created by the contingent element in case of multiple violations), as follows:

White background: Voltage violation; and

No background: Branch violation.

Labe describes the worst violation in the same way as on a violation marker.

As shown in FIG. 20, selecting a contingent element marker will display all violations that this particular contingent element creates. The Contingency tab will be automatically opened and show a list of contingencies that are impacting the monitored elements in Alarm, Violation, or Warning states (refer to the Monitored Elements tab).

FIG. 21 shows the Contingency Tab in the control panel.

In one embodiment, for each contingency in the tab, the name is presented as a tab item. Two icons are next to the name. One icon locates the contingent element(s) on the overview display, and the other icon calls an associated display in a dashboard tab. You can obtain detailed information related to the contingency by expanding the tree (i.e., click on the “+” sign to the left of the name). The expanded contingent item will display a list of monitored elements it impacts. They are sorted using the same criteria as the monitored elements in the Monitored Elements Tab.

Other embodiments of the application will be apparent to those skilled in the art from consideration of the specification and practice of the invention disclosed herein. It is intended that the specification and examples be considered as exemplary only, with a true scope and spirit of the invention being indicated by the following claims. 

What is claimed is:
 1. A method, comprising: monitoring, by a system comprising a processor and a memory, a power system via an energy management system (EMS) comprising a control panel, wherein the power system carries power between municipalities, and wherein: the EMS employs a logic resource to determine a potential failure of the power system prior to an occurrence of a failure of the power system, and the EMS initiates, in response to the potential failure, an auditory or visual alert; accessing, by the system, a user-selected geographic area displayed via the control panel, wherein the user-selected geographic area is indicated to the system via an area input indicating an extent of the user-selected geographic area in a graphical user interface of the control panel, wherein the user-selected geographic area from a first window of the graphical user interface is then dragged and dropped onto a dashboard interface window displayed in the graphical user interface; obtaining, by the system, information related to power system elements located within the user-selected geographic area; determining, by the system based on the information, Mega Volt Ampere Reactive (MVAR) power reserve availability information that represents an amount of Mega Volt Ampere Reactive (MVAR) power reserve that is available for each of the power system elements in the user selected geographic area; in response to the determining, generating an overlaid geographic-display by overlaying the geographic area displayed via the control panel with superimposed Mega Volt Ampere Reactive (MVAR) power reserve availability information, the geographic area displayed including a plurality of geographic locations that include the power system elements, wherein selected superimposed MVAR power reserve information is displayed next to each of the plurality of geographic locations located within the user-defined geographic area; receiving, by the system, an identifying input related to identifying defined potential low or defined potential high voltage instances in the user-selected geographic area via the overlaid geographic display; wherein the dashboard interface window comprises a MVAR reserve dashboard which includes types of the power system elements located across the user-selected geographic area, the types comprising generation units, capacitor banks, and reactor banks, the MVAR reserve dashboard also including amounts of available injection MVAR and available absorption MVAR for each of the types; and initiating, by the system, an injecting or a removing of a Mega Volt Ampere Reactive (MVAR) power in, or from, a portion of the power system corresponding to the user-selected geographic area, the injecting or removing of Mega Volt Ampere Reactive (MVAR) power being effective to manage low or high voltage instances and maintain sufficient MVAR in the user-selected geographic area; wherein the amount of MVAR power reserve is determined based upon one or more of the generation units of the system that are not open or removed, the capacitor banks of the system that are not removed, and the reactor banks that are not removed.
 2. The method of claim 1, wherein the area input is received via the graphical user interface of the control panel.
 3. The method of claim 2, wherein the area input received via the graphical user interface is based on a touch input received via a touch sensitive graphical user interface of the control panel.
 4. The method of claim 2, wherein the area input received via the graphical user interface is based on rubber-banding a perimeter of the user-selected geographic area via the graphical user interface of the control panel.
 5. The method of claim 1, wherein, the dragging is via a touch interface of the control panel.
 6. The method of claim 5, wherein the information related to the power system element associated with the user-selected geographic area is received via the first window displayed in the dashboard interface of the graphical user interface of the control panel.
 7. The method of claim 5, wherein the information related to the power system element associated with the user-selected geographic area is received via the first window displayed separately from the dashboard interface of the graphical user interface of the control panel.
 8. The method of claim 7, wherein the information related to the power system element associated with the user-selected geographic area is based on an area designated in the first window.
 9. The method of claim 1, wherein the generating the overlaid geographic display comprises overlaying the geographic area with superimposed Mega Volt Ampere Reactive (MVAR) power reserve availability information contained in via a flyout window.
 10. The method of claim 9, wherein the flyout window is offset from a corresponding portion of the geographic area.
 11. The method of claim 9, wherein the control panel displays the geographic area at a first scale and the flyout window displays the superimposed Mega Volt Ampere Reactive (MVAR) power reserve availability information at a second scale different than the first scale.
 12. The method of claim 11, wherein the second scale is selectable via the flyout window.
 13. The method of claim 9, wherein the flyout window displays the superimposed Mega Volt Ampere Reactive (MVAR) reserve availability information at a determined level of translucency corresponding to a visibility of geographic area superimposed by the flyout window.
 14. A system, comprising: a processor; and a memory that stores executable instructions that, when executed by the processor, facilitate performance of operations, comprising: determining, based on power system monitoring information, a potential failure of a power system carrying power between cities; initiating, in response to the potential failure, an alert via a control panel; enabling, via a graphical user interface, selection of a user-selected geographic area displayed via the control panel; obtaining information related to power system elements located within the user-selected geographic area; determining Mega Volt Ampere Reactive (MVAR) power reserve availability information that represents an amount of Mega Volt Ampere Reactive (MVAR) power reserve that is available for each of the power system elements in the user-selected geographic area; in response to determining Mega Volt Ampere Reactive (MVAR) power reserve availability information, displaying superimposed Mega Volt Ampere Reactive (MVAR) power reserve availability information overlaying the geographic area displayed via the control panel, the geographic area displayed including a plurality of geographic locations that include the power system elements, wherein selected superimposed MVAR power reserve information is displayed next to each of the plurality of geographic locations located within the user-defined geographic area, wherein the determining the amount is based on dragging and dropping an icon from a first portion of the graphical user interface to a second portion of the graphical user interface, and wherein the icon represents a first electrical value; displaying a MVAR reserve dashboard which includes types of the power system elements located across the user-selected geographic area, the types comprising generation units, capacitor banks, and reactor banks, the MVAR reserve dashboard also including amounts of available injection MVAR and available absorption MVAR for each of the types; and in response to receiving a first input related to identifying defined potential low or defined potential high voltage instances in the user-selected geographic area via the control panel, triggering an injecting or removing of Mega Volt Ampere Reactive (MVAR) power in, or from, a portion of the power system corresponding to the user-selected geographic area, the injecting or removing of Mega Volt Ampere Reactive (MVAR) power being effective to manage low or high voltage instances and maintain sufficient MVAR in the user-selected geographic area; wherein the amount of MVAR power reserve is determined based upon one or more of the generation units of the system that are not open or removed, the capacitor banks of the system that are not removed, and the reactor banks that are not removed.
 15. The system of claim 14, wherein the enabling the selection of the geographical area is enabled via a touch received by a touch sensitive graphical user interface.
 16. The system of claim 14, wherein the displaying the superimposed Mega Volt Ampere Reactive (MVAR) power reserve availability information comprises overlaying a flyout window, for displaying the Mega Volt Ampere Reactive (MVAR) power reserve availability information, over and offset from a corresponding portion of the geographic area.
 17. The system of claim 16, wherein the flyout window comprises a selection interface enabling selecting a scale at which the superimposed Mega Volt Ampere Reactive (MVAR) power reserve availability information is displayed.
 18. A computer-readable storage device having executable instructions stored thereon that, in response to execution, cause a device including a processor to perform operations, comprising: initiating, in response to determining a potential failure of a power transmission system, an auditory or visual alert via a control panel, wherein the power transmission system transmits power between cities; receiving, via a graphical user interface of the control panel, information associated with a user-selected geographic area displayed via the control panel; obtaining information related to power system elements located within the user-selected geographic area; determining Mega Volt Ampere Reactive (MVAR) power reserve availability information that represents an amount of Mega Volt Ampere Reactive (MVAR) power reserve that is available for each of the power system elements in the user-selected geographic area, the Mega Volt Ampere Reactive (MVAR) power reserve availability information comprising an amount of Mega Volt Ampere Reactive (MVAR) power of an alternating current reserves available based on the user-selected geographic area, wherein the determining the Mega Volt Ampere Reactive (MVAR) power reserve availability information is based on moving a graphical representation of the user-selected geographic area into a portion of the graphical user interface, and wherein the graphical representation of the user-selected geographic area represents a first electrical value of the power transmission system; superimposing an image corresponding to the Mega Volt Ampere Reactive (MVAR) power reserve availability information over the geographic area displayed via the control panel, the geographic area displayed including a plurality of geographic locations that include the power system elements, wherein selected superimposed MVAR power reserve information is displayed next to each of the plurality of geographic locations located within the user-defined geographic area; displaying a MVAR reserve dashboard which includes types of the power system elements located across the user-selected geographic area, the types comprising generation units, capacitor banks, and reactor banks, the MVAR reserve dashboard also including amounts of available injection MVAR and available absorption MVAR for each of the types; and in response to receiving an input related to identifying defined potential low or defined potential high voltage instances in a user-selected geographic area via the control panel, triggering an injecting or removing of Mega Volt Ampere Reactive (MVAR) power in, or from, a portion of the power system corresponding to the user-selected geographic area, the injecting or removing of Mega Volt Ampere Reactive (MVAR) power being effective to manage low or high voltage instances and maintain sufficient MVAR in the user-selected geographic area; wherein the amount of MVAR power reserve is determined based upon one or more of the generation units of the system that are not open or removed, the capacitor banks of the system that are not removed, and the reactor banks that are not removed.
 19. The computer-readable storage device of claim 18, wherein the information associated with the user-selected geographical area corresponds to a touch received by a touch sensitive graphical user interface.
 20. The computer-readable storage device of claim 18, wherein the superimposing the image corresponding to the Mega Volt Ampere Reactive (MVAR) power reserve availability information comprises superimposing a flyout window displaying the Mega Volt Ampere Reactive (MVAR) power reserve availability information over and off set from a corresponding portion of the user-selected geographic area. 